School History

A long and Illustrious History

We are proud of our school; it has a very long heritage and a very bright future.

The foundation of our school is an old one. We are the only secondary school, in the United Kingdom, to bear the name of King Charles I. Although he gave us our charter in 1636, the foundation was established by Thomas Blount, esq., Lord of the Manor of Kidderminster, some 70 years earlier. A document dated 1609 describes the origins of the school.

Various lands acquired by the Parish Church of St. Mary and All Saints as investments were confiscated by the State during the Protestant Reformation and early in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, Roger Maunsell of Pedmore purchased them. He levied penal rents and following an appeal from the tenants to the Lord of the Manor, Thomas Blount bought the lands and arranged in 1566 that the rents should be used to endow a free grammar school in Kidderminster “for the instruction of youth in good letters and manners”. In the 1630’s an inquiry was held into the administration of the endowments and as a result of this the charter was granted by King Charles I in 1636. This charter which was part of one given to the town, laid down the manner in which the school should be run and lasted over 200 years.

From 1566 to 1848 the School was carried out in the Chantry of the Parish ￼￼church of St Mary and All Saints although it was not a chantry school. In 1848 the school moved to the site known as Woodfield on Bewdley Road. In the mid-nineteenth century King Charles I School, like most other ancient schools in England, was reorganised under schemes devised by the endowed schools commissioners and the charity commissioners to meet an increasing demand for secondary education in which england seemed to have fallen woefully behind other european countries. In 1902 the school became ‘grant aided’ within Worcestershire County Council; this status was continued as ‘voluntary aided’ until after 1944. In order to provide finance for accommodation thought necessary in the late 1950’s the school became ‘voluntary controlled’ in 1958 and remained as such up to April, 2012 when it became an academy.

In 1977 the Foundation moved to its present site when the school was amalgamated with Queen Elizabeth I Grammar School at Hartlebury and Kidderminster High School for Girls. The new 11-18 school, meeting the needs of learners aged 11-18, was established in 2007 on the present Comberton Road site, with its Lower School on the Borrington Road (ex-Comberton Middle School Site).